(a). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for manually controlling the movement of a pickup arm in an automatic record player. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a device described above, which is used preferably in a linear tracking pickup arm type record player.
(b). Description of the Prior Art
As well known, a linear tracking pickup arm is arranged so that the pickup arm is always kept in the direction of tangency relative to the record groove of the record disk being played, so that there is the advantage that there occurs substantially no lateral tracking angle error during play. Thus, a wide-ranged use of linear tracking pickup arm is desired. In a pickup arm of such type as described, the pickup arm is moved linearly parallelly, and therefore it is difficult to arrange so that the pickup arm is moved while being held directly by fingers of a person. For this reason, it is desirable to separately provide a manipulating unit for remotely operating the pickup arm to move to a desired position above the record disk placed on the platter. In such an instance, it is preferred to arrange so that the pickup arm may be moved arbitrarily in any linear backward or forward direction, i.e. toward the center of the turntable or outwardly of this center, from the viewpoint of selection of a desired portion of the record groove. In some known automatic record players, however, arrangement is provided so that the pickup arm is manually caused to move only in one direction, and in some other record players, arrangement is provided so that the pickup arm may be manually moved in both backward and forward directions. In these latter players, however, there are provided two manual operating units which, in turn, contribute to a lowering of easy operability of the pickup arm. Also, in still other known automatic record players, there is provided a manual controlling device for moving the pickup arm by the use of a variable resistor. In the pickup arm device of this latter type, however, there is the problem that the life of the potentiometer is relatively short. In addition, the potentiometer has to be returned to its initial inoperative condition whenever the pickup arm has completed, by manual operation, its movement for a desired distance.